Martyn and Gillespie make the difference

Australia 170-2 Netherlands 122 Australia win by 75 runs (Duckworth/Lewis method)

If Gary Kasparov has some spare time before next he opposes a computer at chess, he might care to play the Duckworth-Lewis system at cricket. Man against computer is never a fair contest and since Kasparov is the only human to make a fist of it he is an obvious nominee.

The Netherlands had a further disadvantage here yesterday. Not only were they confronted with D-L at its most statistically cussed (to mere maths O-level mortals, that is), they also had the small matter of the silicon chip's human equivalent, the Australian cricket team.

In a Group A match which started late and was then further affected by rain, Australia scored 170 for 2, which naturally left the Netherlands needing 198 to win. Having made 122, a considerable endeavour in the circumstances, they thus lost by 75 runs.

The game might have failed to start, such was the force and quantity of the overnight storm. Once it did, there was a period, albeit as brief as a glance at a pretty girl on a busy street, when the underdogs might have caused one of the biggest sporting upsets of all (Australia were 2,000-1 on).

But such flights of fancy were never likely to last. Australia, who played a weakened team, turned in a solid, professional performance designed to gain maximum reward without suffering or inflicting embarrassment. Having been inserted, they were circumspect in difficult conditions. They had one eye on the skies and the other on what they might do to the clock.

Damien Martyn, dropped when he was one (that was the moment when you thought the men in orange might squeeze the Australians' pips) proceeded to make 67 from 76 balls with six fours. It was not a typical innings, but then it was not a typical Potch pitch. Not surprisingly, it was more hotch-potch than anything else.

The organisers were, creditably, desperate to have the match played despite its apparently low-key status. A marquee was erected above the business area overnight and a police helicopter was used as a blow drier. The ground staff were understandably fractious until a decision was made.

The rain abated long enough for there to be a match, the crowd, a healthy mixture of white, black and orange in a town not noted for its liberal perspective, was proverbially good-humoured. It was fortunate for the Dutch that Australia gave the menacing Jason Gillespie only three overs, in which he took two wickets and looked the best bowler around Potch and most other places.

Australia came off the pitch to announce they had faxed a message of support to the beleaguered Shane Warne before his drugs hearing. But they do not look as if they need him back.